


Just To Dance

by nicolai



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Dancing, Philosophy, learning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 03:04:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6221017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicolai/pseuds/nicolai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven is trying to teach Peridot how to dance, not to fuse, but just to have fun, and they talk a bit about the differences between humans and gems</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just To Dance

“I just move?” Peridot’s confusion and slight disgust at the idea was obvious on her face. 

“Well, yeah!” Steven grinned, strumming the ukulele, “But to the music, here, watch!”

He continued playing and began dancing around the beach, wiggling his hips and bobbing his head to the music. 

“Steven… What are you doing?” Peridot was nearly recoiling at the odd display, edging away from him. 

“Dancing! It’s fun!” the young boy jumped closer and grabbed the gem’s hand gently in his, “Dance with me!”

Letting the ukulele hang from its strap, he continued his dance, replaying the rhythm in his head and carrying it out from his fingers to his toes. He changed the dance to one with whorls and slides, dragging his stiff, robotic partner through the motions. 

“What’s the point!?” Peridot yelled, “We aren’t trying to fuse, so why are we doing this?!” 

Steven’s arms went swiftly around Peridot’s abdomen, pulling her close and kissing her cheek, rather caught up in the energy of the moment. 

They both blushed when they realized what had happened and Steven stepped back to hold her hand instead, “It’s just to dance. Because it’s fun. And there’s no reason not to have fun, Peridot,” he explained tracing his thumb gently over her green palm.   
“Why is everything you do to have fun?” Peridot asked, staring down at his hand, holding hers; her tone lost some of its judgment, replaced with soft wonder. 

“It isn’t. Some things are important for other reasons, but I try to have fun with those too,” Steven shrugged, smiling kindly, “I don’t know why I do things this way. Maybe it’s because I’m human.”

Peridot frowned, “What do you mean?” 

“I dunno. Gems are different about time,” Steven laughed, trying to take the seriousness out of the conversation, though his happiness only made it more sincere, not less “You don’t expect to die, and so you can give more of your time to duty, but I guess some humans are like that too. I guess maybe it’s because I’m my father’s son. I don’t know how I’ll age or what will happen if and when I die, but my dad thinks about things like that sometimes and he talks to me. That’s why we do so many silly things together, to enjoy the time we have. Because things will change. I’ll grow up and not want to do them or he’ll get too old to be able to and someday, one of us will be gone. So we play and laugh and dance and love, because that’s what we have.”

Peridot was silent for a moment, wondering how humans could consider their fleeting lives anything but terrifying. They weren’t around long enough to really change things. They were fragile and weak, all the more so as she was learning. But maybe there was value in their culture. She did like some of the things they made. 

“Oh. Okay,” she nodded slowly, “Can you show me again? I want to dance… just to dance,” she didn’t know if she could feel the way he felt, but it might be good to try; it did look like a lot of fun.


End file.
